X-ray to study micronutrients in human minibrains

It is consensus that mothers’ diet has critical effects on fetal development, and the absence of nutrients is related to impairments on brain formation. In order to characterize the nutrients during human brain development, Brazilian scientists investigated human minibrains using synchrotron radiation, a sort of X-ray. Results showed that concentration and distribution of chemical elements are related to the stage of development and similar to previous data obtained from postmortem brain samples.